TITLE GOES HERE, CASEYhttps://caseycantina.com
(ridiculous author at large)Wed, 27 Mar 2019 23:29:31 +0000en
hourly
1 http://wordpress.com/https://s0.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngTITLE GOES HERE, CASEYhttps://caseycantina.com
Aaannnddd I Quithttps://caseycantina.com/2019/03/27/aaannnddd-i-quit/
https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/27/aaannnddd-i-quit/#respondWed, 27 Mar 2019 23:29:31 +0000http://caseycantina.com/?p=599Continue reading Aaannnddd I Quit]]>Given that it’s been … I don’t know how many days since I’ve read the book I was referring to on Monday, I think it’s time to declare the book a DNF. I haven’t even thought about it. I am clearly just not into it, so it’s time to move on.

It’s freeing to decide that my time is worth more than a book that’s doing nothing for me. It means that I value myself enough to know when I’m wasting my time. It also means that I have a lot of books to read, and I’m not going to spend precious reading time on this particular book anymore. Oh well. They can’t all be winners.

Meanwhile, I’m deep into The Hanging Tree and have reached the point where I’m beginning to fret a little about having no more books left in this series just yet. I have one novella and one novel left, plus three graphic novels. There will be new installments later this year, and while I know this, I’m impatient and I want moar. I’ll live.

Are you one of those stubborn, determined readers who finishes everything that you start? Because I have learned that, while I think it’s an admirable quality, I’m not that kind of person. I used to think that I was! I’d get to a point in a book where I was stalled because of one reason or another. Usually, I just wasn’t gelling with some aspect of the story. More often than not, I fail to care. Something within the book has to make me care. I’m at that point with one of my current reads, and while part of me truly wants to finish the book due to other factors, I find that I just do not give one good goddamn about what happens. Nothing in this book has me interested in what happens at the end.

Cut because I’m going to talk more. I won’t be naming names. But cutting anyway.

Normally, when I DNF (do not finish, for those not in the know) a book, it’s almost always not the book’s fault. It’s mine. For example, there was one excellently written epic fantasy that I started last year, but I wasn’t in the headspace to read and appreciate it at that time. One of my closest friends had just passed away, and I just couldn’t deal with a book that could, potentially, break my heart. That’s the risk with loving fiction: you always run the risk of having your heart shattered. Peg Kerr’s gorgeous novel, The Wild Swans, broke me in such a way that I had to take a break at work just to cry it out. Robin Hobb constantly shatters my soul. Both of these are writers that I trust, so I will allow them to continue hurting me with anything that they choose to write in the future. (Hobb recently completed[?] the Realm of the Elderlings saga, but Kerr, as far as I know, isn’t publishing right now…I remain hopeful.)

But some books…I just don’t care. One of my current reads is excellently written. It explores an aspect of the fantasy genre that I adore, in a way in which I haven’t seen before. This is always wonderful for me, a fan of this particular flavor of fantasy. I knew, going in, that it wasn’t going to be a cheerful book. I remembered hearing about it on social media years ago, and I knew what I was getting into.

What I didn’t expect was to get so bored with it. I’m not quite at the halfway mark, but I’m tempted to just call it a wash. I’m going to give it a bit more, because I have heard that this writer is excellent at what they do, but I’m not sure if it’s for me.

So I’m taking a (hopefully) short break from this one to take a trip back to Ben Aaronovitch’s London. I’m re-started Black Mould right now, in preparation for re-starting The Hanging Tree. I already know that I love this series, so it’s a very safe bet to keep from falling into a reading slump. This is something that has happened to me far too many times for me to count, and I’m determined to avoid it if possible.

Check back (hopefully) soon for my review of Black Mould and The Hanging Tree!

I know, the band’s been around for a while. I’m sorry for my lateness to the party. To be fair, when the band debuted, I was obsessed with classic rock. I pretty much missed the first ten years of 2000-era music while I was listening to Queen, Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, and others. Mr. Price was the one who sparked my Panic! obsession a few years ago. As you may have read in the post that I linked to above, I came home from work one day in 2016 to Mr. Price being all excited to show me this video that had started playing while he had YouTube on in the background during his day. It was “Death of a Bachelor,” and I was utterly smitten. Behold!

And now the part where I use the “read more” tag, because I love you. Always remember that I love you.

We had the privilege of seeing Panic! in late January. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling well that day, and the concert didn’t have the magical healing effect that most concerts tend to have on me when I’m feeling down. I had the foresight to record a lot of the show (which was allowed, so don’t yell at me), so at least I have some video of the performance. I’ve also been watching the weekly recaps on the band’s Instagram and YouTube channels. I just wish that I’d been in a better frame of mind during the show itself so that I could have appreciated it more.

I won’t even really have a chance to catch another show during this tour, because the band’s in Europe as I write this, performing to a lot of sold-out houses. Great for Europe, crap for me, unless I want to spend more money than I can actually afford to try to catch them this summer at the Firefly Music Festival (we calculated the cost, and it would almost be cheaper to fly to Germany for a brief European vacation than it would be for a higher-end music festival experience). I won’t be doing that, because I’m not really that interested in any of the other acts that are performing, and I am not a fan of camping in general (even though we have friends who generously offered the use of their air-conditioned camper, should we decide to go). Music festivals, as much as I want them to be, most likely aren’t my thing. Too much time outside in summer, doesn’t agree with me at all.

While I have listened to other music in the last month and a half, I play Panic! almost daily. Different albums suit different days and moods. My morning alarms are set to scare the snot out of me with the opening horns of “High Hopes.” I listen to Pretty. Odd. on my way to work, as it is generally a cheerful way to start an otherwise glum day. I may or may not have ordered a doll version of Beebo the puppet, star of the “Hey Look Ma, I Made It” video. I did. I ordered one. It’s getting serious. (Beebo is on backorder, and I should have him in early April.) I am even contemplating a tattoo, which I suspect is maybe not the best idea.

However, this band, this music, has become one of my lifelines. It’s the latest in a long string of things that I have convinced myself make it worth it to wake up in the morning. As long as there is the promise of another show, another album, even another music video (a new one premiered this week, in fact!), then it’s worth it to keep getting up and going to the day job. It’s worth it to get out of bed. My life has been made better because of this band, and part of me wants a permanent reminder for when things get too bleak. Will I do it? Maybe. Time will tell.

I’ve also been lured back into fiction writing as a result of this newfound love, and that’s definitely a good thing. Writers block has been a constant companion for many years, and anything that can snap me out of it is welcomed with open arms.

]]>https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/22/panic-attack/feed/0cantinacaseySpreading (And Eventually Curing) The Virushttps://caseycantina.com/2019/03/20/spreading-the-virus/
https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/20/spreading-the-virus/#respondWed, 20 Mar 2019 15:00:34 +0000http://caseycantina.com/?p=585Continue reading Spreading (And Eventually Curing) The Virus]]>My husband is a board game enthusiast. He’s really fond of hobby games. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it’s a broad descriptor for those expensive board games that you might have seen in places like Barnes and Noble. We’re not talking about Scrabble, or any of the myriad Monopoly games. These are games that can take hours to play. We used to play regularly with another couple, but we had a pretty major falling-out with them a few years ago and haven’t had any “board game” friends since.

Well. Being who he is, Mr. Price has infectedintroduced a new set of friends to the world of hobby games. This all started with Escape Room in a Box: The Werewolf Experiment. Having observed our friends’ enjoyment with that game, Mr. Price decided to attempt to ease our friends a little further into the world of hobby games with one of the best introduction games: Ticket to Ride.

The game has a deceptively simple premise. One is given tickets, which are routes that you must complete with your tiny plastic trains. You complete these routes by drawing color cards that line up with various lines between major cities. Any routes that you do not complete by the end of the game result in negative points. As I said, it’s deceptively simple. Children can play the game. However, a ton of strategy comes into play. I’ve had to make backup plans for my backup plans in past games. We ended up playing this game with our friends during the last two weekends. After the first game, our friends enjoyed the game so much that they both bought the mobile version. Last weekend, we played twice. One of them solidly trounced both Mr. Price and myself. We’re planning to go a little further and introduce them to Pandemic, which is a cooperative game. It’s you and your compatriots versus the game itself, which intends to destroy the world. It’s kind of like a reverse Plague Inc.(where you play as the plague which aims to destroy the world, and which I’m terribly fond of…I’m not certain what that says about me).

It’s been a ton of fun, and I hope that they catch the bug a little bit stronger than they already have. It would be nice for Mr. Price’s enormous collection of games to finally get some usage. Plus, we all know how much I love sharing the things that I love. It’s pretty much my rasion d’etre these days. Hopefully, within a few weeks, I can report back on our attempt to save the world from an unknown plague.

]]>https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/20/spreading-the-virus/feed/0cantinacaseyThese Are a Few of My Favorite Thingshttps://caseycantina.com/2019/03/18/these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things/
https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/18/these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 19:00:17 +0000http://caseycantina.com/?p=576Continue reading These Are a Few of My Favorite Things]]>Quick note!

A few weeks ago, I took my turn on My Favorite Things over at Speculative Chic. This is a regular column in which we typically invite guests over to share the things that they love best. The regular contributors take a turn every now and then, too. Here’s mine. My most recent edition, anyway. There’s a link to my first one within the text of this year’s column, so if you’re super curious, you can have two for the price of one.

]]>https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/18/these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things/feed/0cantinacaseyOnce Upon a Time, Againhttps://caseycantina.com/2019/03/18/once-upon-a-time-again/
https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/18/once-upon-a-time-again/#respondMon, 18 Mar 2019 15:00:48 +0000http://caseycantina.com/?p=580Continue reading Once Upon a Time, Again]]>“They force fed me something called ‘bologna.'”

That’s a line from yet another episode of Once Upon a Time, uttered by one Captain Hook upon his release from real-world jail. He states that he’s spent time in the “brig” before, but none so horrifying as our standard jail. Bologna can be pretty terrible, especially if you don’t know what you’re dealing with.
Yep, I’m still watching this delightful, visual crack-fest. I love it so much. It’s over-the-top, and the special effects are occasionally bad (as in, you can see bits of the green screen that was obviously used to create a LOT of the background sets), and the showrunners don’t give a flying fuck about accents. Belle, for example, is played by Emilie de Ravin, who’s Australian. A pre-iZombie Rose McIver plays Tinkerbell. Both of these lovely actresses use their native accents on the show. It’s a little off-putting, to say the least. I can almost buy the fairy having an accent, but Belle? Is the only one of her family who speaks the way that she does. It’s weird.

What I really love is the fact that the show takes every single public domain work of fairy and folklore that it can find, tosses it in a blender, and then pours out this delightful smoothie of weirdness. The main characters are dealing with the flying monkeys and the Wicked Witch of the West as I write this. I watched Snow White and Prince Charming fight Medusa a few episodes ago. Robin Hood and Sir Lancelot have made appearances. Doctor Freaking Frankenstein is in this show (and his episode is shot in black and white, which makes for a particularly fun experience).

Cut for more rambling.

Something that I’m really enjoying is the way that the villains are redeemed and reworked into antiheroes. The Evil Queen has, over the course of the episodes that I’ve watched, turned from being the primary adversary to becoming a kind-of ally to Snow, Charming, and the others. A big chunk of season three took place in Neverland. One of my favorite things about that entire experience was watching Regina roll her eyes at the others and make snarky comments about their actions while just saying that she could fix a lot of their problems with magic.

By mid-season three, she’s actively working with Emma, who is Snow White and Prince Charming’s daughter, to fix things. She’s still wonderfully sarcastic and droll, which I love, but she’s not afraid to be vulnerable. Villains and antiheroes are much more interesting to me than straight-up heroes. That’s been true for me for a long time. Saving the day, protecting the innocent, yes, that’s nice. But the people who have more shadowy motivations are more fascinating. I always wonder why they’ve chosen their paths and their actions. WHY are they villains in the first place?

That’s a thought for a much longer time. For now, I’m returning to my vacation in Storybrooke, Maine. The weather’s terrible, but the local color never fails to entertain.

If you want to read the entire thread, go on. I can wait. If not, long story short: somebody took an eARC of Seanan McGuire’s Middlegame and uploaded it to a book piracy website. I am beyond infuriated at this behavior. One, because McGuire’s probably my favorite writer. I am not exaggerating when I say that I am still alive because she is still publishing books. So to see that her work is being stolen? Sends me into a fit of rage so strong that my hands are actually shaking a little right now. The person who created one of my actual lifeboats had her work stolen, and her future work jeopardized because of potentially lost sales.

Secondly? As a book blogger who is doing her damndest to read and review responsibly with NetGalley so that I can keep a good rating and keep getting access to eARCs, I am LIVID with the person who got access to Middlegame and decided to just throw it up on a piracy website. This person is endangering the entire eARC process for the rest of us. I don’t get paid to do this; this is my hobby. I spend my time reviewing books because I love them, and I want other people to read and love them as well. I have purchased copies of easily two-thirds of the books that I received early access to, because I enjoyed them that much. Some idiot, the same idiot that has done this to plenty of other authors, is potentially poisoning the well for the rest of us. Other writers have managed to convince their publishers to skip eARCs; if McGuire’s publishers decide to stop offering her work via NetGalley, I’ll live. I’ll be pissed off that one person ruined it for the rest of us, but I’ll live. And I wouldn’t blame them one bit.

]]>https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/15/on-piracy-and-why-im-a-little-pissy-today/feed/1cantinacaseyKindle Roulettehttps://caseycantina.com/2019/03/14/kindle-roulette/
https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/14/kindle-roulette/#commentsThu, 14 Mar 2019 16:00:32 +0000http://caseycantina.com/?p=566Continue reading Kindle Roulette]]>On March 2nd, having just finished the second InCryptid novel, Midnight Blue Light Special by Seanan McGuire, I decided to play a game. I have so many Kindle books. So many, indeed, that Mr. Price accidentally nicknamed my Kindle “Thousands of Books” — he came into the living room a few years ago, looking very disgruntled. He didn’t mind, he said, that I bought so very many books. He just wished that I would take better care of them. When I inquired as to what he meant by that statement, he replied that I had left thousands of books just laying on our bed. Then I got his meaning and had to smile.

Cut because I care. Read on if you want to learn about Kindle Roulette (and you do).

Anyway! So, the game that I started playing on March 2nd, Kindle Roulette, is quite simple. I open the Kindle app on my phone or tablet, sort the books by whatever given category sounds best at the time, and then close my eyes and proceed to start swiping up and down at random until I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve gone in either direction. Then I stab a title on the screen and open my eyes. Ta-da! My next book is chosen. I was inspired to start doing something like this after somebody on Instagram talked about her enormous TBR jar. I mean…that’s a fantastic idea, if you’ve been doing it all along, and are diligent about adding titles to said jar when you acquire new ones. So this is my version of a jar.

It was this game which led to me reading Emma Newman’s Planetfall (review to come on Speculative Chic). Honestly, I started the book that evening, and then put it down to read another InCryptid novel (Pocket Apocalypse) and then Indexing (review here). I started reading Planetfall in earnest on March 11th and finished on the 13th. I’m a little shy around true science fiction. While Planetfall technically takes place in space, on another planet, I’m not sure that I’d qualify it as space opera, yet I’m uncertain as to what else it could be called. Either way, I’ll be reviewing it later this month.

My newest Kindle Roulette pick is Trailer Park Fae by Lilith Saintcrow. It’s not at all what you’re expecting by the title, I can assure you of that much. I’m around 4% in so far, and I can already tell that it’s doing things with the fae that I haven’t seen before. This is great! I’m also deeply intrigued by the book so far. This is also great, because remember, I’m only 4% in. More to come, either here or over at SpecChic.

My delight in this game is that it’s going to force me into reading things that otherwise might have languished unread for…who knows how long. I purchased Planetfall in March of 2017. My Kindle edition of Trailer Park Fae was purchased in December of 2015 (I once owned a paperback that I purchased earlier that year, but it was lost due to circumstances that I’m not going to talk about right now). Additionally, these are two wildly different books. One is a thoughtful, character-driven piece of space opera that goes into subjects such as community, religion, and the lengths that one will go to in order to hide a secret. The other is an urban fantasy, and I genuinely remember nothing else about it. There’s no book cover with a handy premise, after all, and I’m far too lazy to look it up. That’s kind of the point of Kindle Roulette. I let fate decide. I’ve decided to give myself a veto, if most definitely something that I’m not feeling at the moment. If I spin again, I must at least start reading whatever comes up next, unless it’s part of a series that I’m not caught up on.

It’s fun so far, and I’m hoping to keep it going. Let’s see how random my reading list gets this year!

]]>https://caseycantina.com/2019/03/14/kindle-roulette/feed/4cantinacasey[Book Review] Jewels of the Sun by Nora Robertshttps://caseycantina.com/2019/02/27/book-review-jewels-of-the-sun-by-nora-roberts/
https://caseycantina.com/2019/02/27/book-review-jewels-of-the-sun-by-nora-roberts/#respondWed, 27 Feb 2019 16:00:30 +0000http://caseycantina.com/?p=561Continue reading [Book Review] Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts]]>Once upon a time, I wasn’t the nicest of people. I wasn’t a part of the Let People Enjoy Things movement. So I wrongly looked down upon romance novels and those who chose to read them. A friend of mine told me about Jewels of the Sun in those dark, unenlightened days, and recommended it highly. So I read it on a whim and discovered that it was a romance novel with a hidden fantasy element. I was so enamored with it that I read the two followup novels, Tears of the Moon and Heart of the Sea immediately afterwards. I would go on to read almost a dozen or Roberts’s other fantasy-romance novels, with great enjoyment. I was still a little bit snarky about the romance genre, and I acknowledge that I was wrong. I know better now, and even if I’m not an avid romance reader, I do enjoy them from time to time.

Cut because I love you

This book had a taste of everything that my fantasy-loving heart could ever want. Fairies! Ghosts! Legends! Plus, it took place in Ireland. I’ve wanted to visit for years, and still do.

The thing about romance novels, the thing that I didn’t quite understand, is that you’re guaranteed some kind of happy ending. Whether it’s happily ever after, or happy for now, it ends on a positive note. This is something that I desperately needed right about now. I knew that Jude and Aidan would work things out, and not just because I’d read the novel once before. I wasn’t feeling well, thanks to the Cold That Won’t Die and other things that I’m not going to talk about, so I decided to run away to Ireland for a few days, just as Jude did.

The thing about Nora Roberts and a lot of her work, is that she loves speculative fiction just as much as I do. She’s written plenty of novels that don’t have any sort of speculative element to them at all, but I don’t enjoy them as much as I do the ones with a taste of witchcraft, fairy tales, or evil curses. I love them all so much, and I’m looking forward to revisiting them.

Next up, however, is Seanan McGuire’s In An Absent Dream. I’ll probably review that for Speculative Chic, so you’ll have to look for my review over there.

]]>https://caseycantina.com/2019/02/27/book-review-jewels-of-the-sun-by-nora-roberts/feed/0cantinacasey[Book Review] Rivers of London: Body Work and Night Witchhttps://caseycantina.com/2019/02/25/book-review-rivers-of-london-body-work-and-night-witch/
https://caseycantina.com/2019/02/25/book-review-rivers-of-london-body-work-and-night-witch/#respondMon, 25 Feb 2019 16:00:41 +0000http://caseycantina.com/?p=554Continue reading [Book Review] Rivers of London: Body Work and Night Witch]]>I return! I was too busy being sick to string together enough sentences for any blog entries last week, other than my review of That Ain’t Witchcraftfor Speculative Chic. I really loved that book, and I can’t wait for the next one. It’s going to be a long year. It might be time for an end-to-end reread of the InCryptid series. In the meantime, I’m still working my way through Rivers of London! I have reached the graphic novel portion of the series.

My friend Lane, when she reviewed this series for Speculative Chic, mentioned that she didn’t read the graphic novels, and it felt like there were some weird gaps in continuity. So I treated myself to all of the currently existing graphic novels in the series, and dug up a reading order that included them within the novels’ timeline, and hopped in. This is partially because events that happened in Body Work and Black Mould are referenced in The Hanging Tree, and I wanted to find out what happened, especially given that Sahra Guleed (who is awesome) was involved.

Short reviews, maybe a few spoilers

Body Work is a fairly straightforward tale. Picture Stephen King’s Christine (from the eponymous novel), but marginally less evil. Only, what happens when Christine gets chopped and redistributed into other cars? Bad stuff, that’s what.

I’ve always liked Guleed, and getting to spend more time with her just increased that fondness. Given that Lesley seems to have peaced out entirely to the dark side, I would love to see Guleed start working with Nightingale and Peter at the Folly. I don’t see that happening, but a girl can dream, can’t she? She’s already been involved in “Falcon” specific work a few times; why not bring her fully into the fold?

I enjoyed Body Work just as much as I’ve been enjoying the novels. I sort of wish that more authors would get the chance to add these little interludes within the scope of their long series. Getting to see side adventures that aren’t long enough to merit a full novel, and would feel strange worked into the body of a novel, is an especially delightful treat. I’m also pleased that the way that I was picturing the characters seems pretty spot-on, based on the art.

Night Witch was also enjoyable, and gave a bit of insight into what Lesley’s actually been up to ever since she made her decision and joined Faceless. It also gave some interesting background into Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina, first introduced in Broken Homes. She’s an actual badass witch, having fought for the Russians in WW2. I hope that this isn’t the last that we see of her. She’s tough, smart, fearless, and the closest thing that Nightingale currently has to a contemporary and an equal. (Do they have a ship name? Can it be Nightingwitch?)

My very favorite part of Night Witch? Getting to see the full extent of Beverley Brook‘s power as a river goddess. Things that were hinted at in Foxglove Summer are seen in their full, magnificent glory. In Foxglove Summer, Beverley is able to obtain a room at the fully-booked local inn just by asking somebody if she can have it. Night Witch shows that Beverley’s able to easily sway people into doing what she wants them to do. Russian mafia breaks into her house, there to do a murder on Beverley? Mmm, she thinks not. She thinks that they’re going to give her a mani-pedi and clean her flat. That was utterly amazing. I love Beverley so much.

As for Lesley, watching her do Faceless’s bidding was…upsetting, I suppose. She’s always been a determined woman, and she’s seemingly devoted to whatever plan that he has cooked up. I really liked Lesley. I admired her determination and her tenacity. She still has those traits; she’s just choosing to use them for the good of Faceless. And now? They have an entire boatload of money.

Yay. I can’t imagine anybody better to have that much power and money at his disposal. OH WAIT, YES I CAN.

Molly is AMAZING in both books, but primarily in Night Witch. I loved watching her attempt to spring into action to go after whomever had kidnapped Nightingale, and Peter consoling her that after he found them, she could stab them to her heart’s content. I also adored the image of her brandishing two knives while she stood guard over the Folly.

As a fun bonus, at the end of each graphic novel, there are one-page adventures showing different characters in different situations. The one that made me actually laugh out loud was the one featuring Beverley’s little sister, Nicky, at a Star Wars opening, demanding that the actors give her their autographs, and seemingly attempting to order one of the actors to marry her and move into her river…just before Beverley intervenes and reminds her that they’re not to use their powers in that way. So adorable.

I’m currently reading Black Mould, but I took a short break to read another romance novel–an old one that I’d read many years ago, Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts. I just really needed the fluff and the guaranteed happy ending, without the eldritch horror of the Griffin and Whyborne series (which I will jump back into eventually). Life is hard, and sometimes escape is the best way to cope.